Making Sense of Millennials: The 4 “Waves” of Millennials(Updated)

(I originally made this chart and wrote this article, a one minute read back then, in 2017. At the time, Pew listed the age range for millennials at 1981–2000. I updated my chart to reflect these changes, and also added some general insights into each “wave” of millennial.)

What is the age range for millennials?

According to Strauss and Howe, the gentlemen who coined the concept of millennials, it is those born between 1981 and 2005. According to Pew Research center, millennials are those born between 1981 and 1996.

I still think 16 years is too big of a range to make any meaningful assumptions about millennials. The way I see it, there are four waves of millennials:

1st Wave: 1981–1984

2nd Wave: 1985–1988

3rd Wave: 1989–1992

4th Wave: 1993–1996

Comparing millennials to other generations is largely meaningless, but I think things get interesting when you compare these waves against each other. Now, I’m not here to assign behavioral characteristics to any of these micro-generations. There is no magical reason for these groupings — I just wanted even groups. Then, I made a chart listing many of the significant technological (and some political) events that have happened during the millennial “era”, along with the age ranges of each wave at the time of each event.